Talk:Russian Bear

History as a symbol

Why, exactly, is the bear the symbol of Russia? It doesn't appear in any of the traditional heraldry. Did Russia have a large population of bears at some point? Theres got to be a story in there somewhere. --Dudeman5685 (talk) 02:00, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm from Russia ... and say that this is so ... bear the symbol of Russia ... it happened anciently (hard to explain) ... a lot of bears in Russia .... Yes ... on the arms of Russia eagle ... but for the people of the bear is of characters. Sorry for my bad English .... RRR3 (talk) 10:43, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

This is an interesting question. I can't provide any sources and haven't read any academic articles about the "Russian bear" so this just a well-informed guess: Bear worship is well attested amongst the various ancient Uralic groups (Finnic peoples, Khanty, Mansi, Mari, Mordvinic, Permic, Samoyedic etc.). The early "Russian" states (Novgorod etc.) weren't unanimously Slavic in character, as the Slavs had only arrived in modern-day Russia in the early medieval period from their ancient homelands in East Prussia. Indeed, many people living in the area and even many Novgorodian notables were actually what the Slavs called Chud, that is, Finnic peoples. Although the population was nominally Orthodox Christian at this point, the pagan traditions were all but forgotten and the bear was a powerful symbol for them, seeing continued usage. This continued with the sizable bear population of Russian lands must have contributed to the popularity of bear as a symbol in Russia through the ages. JJohannes (talk) 02:02, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

The pic got deleted, but still avialable here is an early United Russia logo showing the map of Russia closely resembling the shape of a bear. Im told the bear used to be drawn facing west, when Russia's borders were different, and since a leg is a leg, this makes sense to me. The current east-facing orientation may not be as flattering for either the Russians or the Europeans to their rear, and is used less. However, I have not been able to find a map of the full Russian territory showing the bear overlaying the map, only cartoons where the coincidence of shape seems to be ignored. —Soap— 20:08, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Remove 'Japanese Racist Picture' from gallery

The map can create a huge conflict especially for China. I don't think it should be in there. 08adamsm (talk) 09:57, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Russian page

The Russian page describes history of the bear in Russian culture and quotes very many Russian language sources. At least parts of the page may be translated and sources referenced.Xx236 (talk) 07:55, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

In meteorology

• (I am in England.) I once saw a meteorological reference to the Russian Bear, about cold east winds in the winter: "sometimes the Russian bear extends his icy paw across us.". Anthony Appleyard (talk) 04:51, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Imperial Russian History

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2022 and 6 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Tbeaisasn579779257 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Tbeaisasn579779257 (talk) 19:41, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

Did a few edits and will conduct more over the coming days

Hello, as you see above, this is my assignment. So I will add new details and sources over the next two days. I rephrased the summary as it was missing some details, but later I will expand on the Russian Bear's history (mostly before 1917). Feel free to make any edits necessary to make this a better page. Tbeaisasn579779257 (talk) 22:42, 27 November 2022 (UTC)

Ok, that wraps up the edits. I may add more later on, but all the edits are in. Tbeaisasn579779257 (talk) 18:10, 28 November 2022 (UTC)